# rescue

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈɹɛs.kjuː/ · frequency rank #3,131

## Definitions
1. To save from any violence, danger or evil.
2. To free or liberate from confinement or other physical restraint.
3. To recover forcibly, especially from a siege.
4. To remove or withdraw from a state of exposure to evil and sin.
5. To achieve something positive under difficult conditions.
6. To restore a particular trait in an organism that was lost or altered, especially where this loss was as the consequence of some experimental manipulation.
7. To salvage and restore something that has been discarded.
8. To fix a mistake made while preparing something, especially in cooking.
9. To adopt (an animal).

## Etymology
From Middle English rescouen, from Old French rescoure, rescurre, rescorre; from Latin prefix re- (“re-”) + excutere (“to shake or drive out”), from ex (“out”) + quatiō (“to shake”).

## Easily confused with
- **revue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rescue-vs-revue)
- **reside** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rescue-vs-reside)
- **roscoe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rescue-vs-roscoe)
- **résumé** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rescue-vs-resume)
- **rescued** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rescue-vs-rescued)
- **residue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rescue-vs-residue)
- **rescuer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rescue-vs-rescuer)
- **Reece** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reece-vs-rescue)
- **recur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/recur-vs-rescue)
- **resale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/resale-vs-rescue)
- **reissue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reissue-vs-rescue)

## Common misspellings (8)
`erscue`, `recsue`, `resccue`, `resceu`, `resscue`, `resuce`, `rrescue`, `rsecue`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/rescue